


What's In a Name

by imaginary_golux



Category: The Goblin Emperor - Katherine Addison
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Introspection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-24
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-14 18:42:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29671599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imaginary_golux/pseuds/imaginary_golux
Summary: Csethiro ponders the weight of a single word.
Relationships: Csethiro Ceredin/Maia Drazhar
Comments: 2
Kudos: 37
Collections: February Ficlet Challenge 2021: Apocalypse No





	What's In a Name

There’s a theory, Csethiro knows, that every so often there’s a very small moment - a tiny thing, a single choice, a breath, a word - that changes the whole world.

She thinks perhaps she can pinpoint the moment the world changed, for her and the entire Ethuveraz. It’s not the explosion of the _Wisdom of Choharo_ , though that would be the obvious moment to choose. Emperors have died before; an heir is found, the dynasty goes on. And it’s not the moment of Maia’s coronation; emperors are crowned as often and habitually as emperors die.

No. It’s the moment Maia chose his name.

Everything afterwards has come from that choice - from that single word. _Edrehasivar_.

It has affected even this. Csethiro looks down at her sleeping husband, his head cradled on her shoulder, and traces the air above his ear, not daring to touch him lest she disturb him - he sleeps so little, and so ill, that this peaceful moment is a priceless thing. Could she have so loved a Varenechibel, formed in the mold of the old emperor, cold and cruel and thinking of no one but himself? Never. Being married to a Varenechibel would have been misery indeed.

But Edrehasivar - Edrehasivar the Bridge-Builder, who cares so deeply about everyone _but_ himself - that is not misery. It is hard work, yes, to be empress to an emperor who wishes to change the world so dramatically, but Csethiro has never feared hard work; she could never have learned the sword if she hesitated to put in the long hours of practice, after all. Being Maia’s empress is as rewarding, in its own way, as learning the sword was. Being _Edrehasivar’s_ empress, wife and helpmate to the Bridge-Builder.

One small thing - a name, a breath - and here they are, in a world striving to be better than it used to be.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the FFC prompt "Singularity," and beta'd by my marvelous Best Beloved, Turn_of_the_Sonic_Screw.


End file.
